The gala at ball level: Hamann has a lot to tell

It goes without saying that football will be rolling at the gala night of sports on February 9th. Four months before the start of the European Football Championship in Germany, ÖFB team boss Ralf Rangnick will officially kick off the European Championship year in the Brucknerhaus in Linz.

• Upper Austrian ball calendar: With ease and elegance on the dance floor

With Didi Hamann, one of the greats in German football history will also be there. “I’m really looking forward to the gala – it’s always something special when there is an event in such a special setting where the athletes are the focus,” says Hamann in an OÖN interview. Postscript: “You definitely won’t find me on the dance floor.”

He once wrote football history with Liverpool FC: In 2005, thanks to his goal in the penalty shootout, he won the Champions League against AC Milan with the “Reds” after they were 3-0 down at half-time and won 3: 3 saved in overtime.

An experience from back then that Austria’s team players should also take to heart: There is a chance even when the situation seems hopeless. Hamann: “We actually didn’t believe we had a chance when the score was 0-3, we were just empty. But our coach, Rafael Benitez, exuded incredible calm and confidence in the dressing room, which subsequently affected the entire game team transferred.”

Hamann has a lot of confidence in the ÖFB selection at the European Championships: “I hope that David Alaba will get fit and that Sasa Kalajdzic will now get a lot of minutes at Eintracht Frankfurt. But Austria would survive the group phase even without Alaba because the squad is simply really good .”

Beckenbauer’s stroke of luck

With FC Bayern, Hamann was twice champion (1994, 1997), cup winner (1998) and UEFA Cup winner (1996). The fact that he made his breakthrough at Bayern was primarily thanks to Franz Beckenbauer, who died on Sunday. “Within ten days, my life changed completely. I didn’t get any further in Bayern’s amateur team and was actually supposed to be on loan. Then Franz Beckenbauer took over as coach from Erich Ribbeck at the end of 1993. First he told me that he wanted to take me to the winter team. “I took him to Spain for the professional training camp. At the end of the ten-day training camp, he took me aside at the airport and said that I could stay in the professional squad. I will never forget that.”

Beckenbauer’s death also affects Hamann. “Because there will never be someone like him again. He not only taught young players like me a lot back then, but also the veterans. When Franz spoke, the stars with their 80 or 90 international games also pricked up their ears – because you learned from him for life.”

In his role as a TV analyst at “Sky” we are used to clear statements from him. What does it actually look like when he himself is criticized on the street? “This rarely happens in person. Most recently, at Oktoberfest, someone said that the German national team was only playing so badly because of my criticism.” Hamann’s reaction: “He was there with his girlfriend – I gave her ten euros and told her to buy him another pint of beer…”

Everything you need to know about the Gala Night of Sports on February 9th

• Advance tickets for the gala, which is organized by OÖN and LIVA and presented by main sponsor Oberbank, are available at the Brucknerhaus as well as online at brucknerhaus.at and in all Ö-Ticket sales outlets.
• The gala will be moderated by Silvia Schneider and Tom Walek.
• The musical highlight will be Lemo’s concert, which begins at midnight. The Austropop cover band “Hoamspü” will set the tone in the Middle Hall. The opening staged by Eric Papilaya features song contest starter Nathan Trent and violinist Allegra Tinnefeld. The pt Art Orchestra and Six Pence in the foyer guarantee the best dance music.